The Legend of Vox Machina manages to give its fans the best impression of the real Dungeons & Dragons experience: larger-than-life characters wielding impressive powers, chaos and destruction waiting around every corner, and most importantly, unadulterated fun. It’s no wonder that Prime Video’s adaptation of Critical Role’s first actual play campaign earned such praise and success. But with season 4 around the corner, executive producer Sam Riegel doesn’t want fans to get too complacent, thinking they know what’s coming.
At the end of season 3, we left the group of adventurers known as Vox Machina in a pretty good spot. After defeating the draconic Chroma Conclave and saving the world, they are hailed as the heroes of Exandria. Not having a bunch of dragons around trying to kill them also gave Vox Machina members time to pursue more personal endeavors, but that tranquility will soon be shaken up. The biggest change that fans will see at the beginning is that Vox Machina has a new member, one who will fit right in with the rambunctious group: fan-favorite Taryon Darrington. Polygon spoke with Sam Riegel, who created and played the character during the original campaign, about what fans should expect from the flamboyant Taryon and season 4.
Polygon: In season 4, fans will be introduced to a new character and the newest member of Vox Machina. Taryon is a beloved character for fans who followed the campaign, but those who came in through the TV show may be unfamiliar with him. Would you like to introduce Taryon and his genesis as a character?
Sam Riegel: Taryon is a young, rich boy who wants to be a hero more than anything else in life. He loves reading adventure books and stories and wants to be an adventurer like the heroes in his novels. He has no skills. He has no abilities. He’s not a wizard. He’s not a sorcerer. He’s not a huge fighter like Grog or a singing bard like Scanlan. Instead, he buys magical gems that cast spells and that is his only skill: basically, money. Taryon is using his riches and his ego to become an adventurer like his idols, Vox Machina. And hopefully, over the course of the season, he realizes that there’s more to him than just his braggadocio and his riches. Hopefully, he will find himself to be capable in battle and capable as a human being, but for now, he’s just sort of a wannabe, a fanboy.
Why did you create this character during the original campaign?
When we played through the original campaign at the table as a tabletop role-playing game, I was playing the character of Scanlan, and Scanlan was going through a whole bunch of stuff dealing with drug addiction, family issues, rejection, and feeling insecure and ignored. So he left. He left Vox Machina for a period of time in the original campaign and I wanted to keep playing, even though my character was gone. And so Matt, our Dungeon Master, was kind enough to allow me to write in another character. And so Vox Machina came upon this guy, Taryon Darrington. They met him at a waypoint somewhere in one of their adventures and he temporarily joined the group. So I got to play Taryon Darrington while Scanlan was away. And when Scanlan returned to the group eventually, Taryon went away. So I got to play two different characters in the first campaign. In fact, I was the only person in Critical Role who got to do that. And I wanted to make sure that Taryon made an appearance in the animated version of Vox Machina. So it seemed only fitting to bring him back and to not have me play him this time because, frankly, it would be weird if I played two different characters in the show. I’m not as versatile as some of the other guys in the show, like Matt, who could play a million. And it was a great opportunity to bring in someone new who could shake up the chemistry of the group. Wayne Brady is the voice of Taryon, and he brought an amazing sense of charm, humor, and improvisation to the character and to the show, and it really makes season four unlike any other season that we’ve seen in the past.
Taryon’s story has been changed quite a bit from the tabletop campaign. In the TV show, he is a little bit more involved in the main storyline that will get Vox Machina to face the story’s big, bad, evil final villain. Does that mean that we will see Taryon and Scanlan interact, unlike in the tabletop campaign?
Without giving away any spoilers, Scanlan and Taryon are played by two different individuals. So there is a chance for them to exist in scenes together and have them interact. So I sure hope that we get to see that dynamic because it is a dynamic that we never really got in the campaign, and I think it’s a really interesting one. You’ll have to stay tuned to find it.
Talking a bit more about the D&D side of things, some players get very attached to their character, but you instead switched it off, sending Scanlan away to play another one. Do you think that it’s important for players to switch things up now and then?
For me, as a storyteller in general, I like to push the form and break the format. I think that’s an exciting part of storytelling: to defy expectations and keep the audience on their toes. And yes, of course I get attached to all my characters, and as an executive producer of this show, I’m attached to every single one of them. I’m rooting for them and I want them to succeed. But at the same time, I think it’s really important to have a sense of danger, where you don’t know when a character might be taken away from you, and it makes you root for them all the more. If an audience gets too attached to a character and too confident that they will make it through the end of every episode, then it takes away some of the tension, the danger, and the thrill of watching an adventure story like this. So while I am attached to every character and I hope the audience is as well, I never want them to get complacent, and I never want them to get too confident that the bad guys will lose and the good guys will win.
Without giving away any spoilers, are there any favorite scenes from this season that you are looking forward to?
Oh yeah, there is a great heist episode that is coming up that the rest of the cast and I really fell in love with. It’s a fun romp, and within that episode, there are scenes of Pike doing things that you have never seen her do before, and Grog using his wits in ways that you’ve never seen him do before. But I’m really excited for the audience to meet Taryon and to see his arc and his growth as a character. And there’s a really great musical moment in this season. There are a couple of great musical moments in this season that I’m really excited about. We get to hear Grog sing a song, which is amazing, and we’ll get to see some other really interesting musical magic that we haven’t seen before. I guess it’s a little bit of a spoiler, but a lot of times in our show, Keyleth vomits. It’s sort of a running gag that she pukes a lot in our show, and this season I’m proud to say she’s not the only one who vomits. So you’ll get to see another beloved character puke.
Anything else you want to tell our readers about season 4?
Just that the Vox Machina that you’ve come to know and love is going to get pushed into a darker, more epic place than ever before, and they’re facing foes that they are not ready for. And no matter how the season unfolds, I can guarantee there’s going to be some sadness. So buckle up, get those tissues ready, and get ready for a wild rollercoaster.
Season 4 of The Legend of Vox Machina premieres on Amazon Prime on June 3.
